Lima: Peru's government has extended a two-month-old state of emergency in several parts of the capital Lima over a wave of racketeering by criminal gangs who have killed several people this year.
In a decree published late Tuesday the government extended the emergency measures put in place on September 26, including the deployment of troops in 14 Lima districts, for another 45 days.
Interior Minister Juan Jose Santivanez told reporters Monday that the measures were "producing positive results" in the fight against racketeering by criminal gangs.
The groups threaten bus drivers, shopkeepers, hairdressers and schoolteachers with death if they do not pay protection money.
Transport companies have staged four strikes since September over the murders of five bus drivers blamed on the racketeering pandemic.
Between January and September, the police received 14,220 complaints for extortion but the problem is believed to be more prevalent as many victims fail to report cases out of fear.
